C. Dale Young reads from his debut novel in stories, "The Affliction." Author of four collections of poetry, including "The Halo," for which he has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, Young is joined in conversation by the poet Javier Zamora ("Unaccompanied").

An evening of stories and memories to celebrate the life and work of the late experimental poet and prose writer Harry Mathews, whose last novel, "The Solitary Twin," is just out from New Directions. Mathews was the first American chosen for membership in the avant-garde French literary society Oulipo. Readings by Daniel Levin Becker, Roman […]

his grandmother taking a hammer to a portrait of Chairman Mao, which starts a series of terrible events that form the basis for Kirstin Chen's second novel, "Bury What We Cannot Take." Author of "Soy Sauce for Beginners," Chen is joined by Nayomi Munaweera ("What Lies Between Us," "Island of a Thousand Mirrors").

Co-creator of The Toast and author of the beloved "Texts from Jane Eyre: and Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters," Mallory Ortberg returns with "The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror." Adapted from the wildly popular "Children's Stories Made Horrific" series, the book upends classic fairy tales with additional elements of psychological horror and […]

Author of 14 novels and one of only four authors to twice win a Booker Prize, Peter Carey makes a rare visit from New York to San Francisco to read from his latest, "A Long Way from Home," which takes place in 1954 Australia and follows three individuals racing in the infamous 10,000-mile, cross-continent race, […]

Author of the collections "Testify" (2011) and "Broken World" (2007), both widely acclaimed for their powerful lyricism and keen cultural observations, Joseph Lease celebrates his third book, "The Body Ghost," which, throughout its drafting process, has been influencing Bay Area poets for years. The party, and the chance to hold the book at long last, […]

Author of the incredible debut collection of poems "Look" (Graywolf Press, 2016), which was a finalist for the National Book Award, Solmaz Sharif visits San Francisco State University to give a reading sponsored by The Poetry Center and the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies. A former Stegner Fellow, Sharif is a lecturer at Stanford University.

Author of the incredible debut collection of poems "Look" (Graywolf Press, 2016), which was a finalist for the National Book Award, Solmaz Sharif visits San Francisco State University to give a reading sponsored by The Poetry Center and the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies. A former Stegner Fellow, Sharif is a lecturer at Stanford University.

The longstanding quarterly series features readings by Julie Lythcott-Haims ("Real American," "How to Raise an Adult"), K.M. Soehnlein ("Robin and Ruby," "The World of Normal Boys"), Peg Alford Pursell ("Show Her a Flower, a Bird, a Shadow"), Ingrid Rojas Contreras ("Fruit of the Drunken Tree"), Jacqueline Doyle ("The Missing Girl") and Roxanne Hernandez.

Crunk Feminist co-founder Brittney Cooper-who is also professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University-visits San Francisco to read from her new book, "Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower." She's joined in conversation by Alicia Garza, special projects director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and co-founder of the […]